


The melody of our souls

by Erizee



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: (let me dream), Based on a Tumblr Post, Bittersweet, Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, between 3x14 and 3x15, piano lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 02:17:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13203648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erizee/pseuds/Erizee
Summary: Before Ed's rise to the Riddler, he allows himself a moment of happiness.





	The melody of our souls

"You can't be serious."

Ed pinched the bridge of his nose. _These damn pills..._

Across the table, Not-Oswald grinned and shrugged. "Why not? Scared?"

"That's not-!" Ed coughed. He couldn't let Not-Oswald see how much his suggestion really bothered him.  
"I just don't have the time. Okay?"

Not-Oswald shook his head. "No, not okay. In case you forgot, I know what you think. You can't lie to me."

He sauntered, and there really wasn't a better word to describe it, around the table and sat down on the left side of the piano seat.  
"Come on, Ed. Just for old-times sake?" He grinned and batted his eyelids, looking up at Ed through his lashes. "I know you want to."

Ed fought off a blush he didn't understand and rolled his eyes.  
Realising fighting his own subconscious was a useless endeavour, he finally sat down next to Not-Oswald.  
He deliberately left as much space between him and the apparition as possible, but he could still smell the everpresent odd mix between rotting flesh and salty perfume that drenched the air every time.

It was futile anyway. As soon as Ed was seated, Not-Oswald slid over to him until their thighs were almost touching. Ed could swear he could feel Oswald's, the real Oswald's, body-heat on his leg, even though he knew touching him would be impossible.

Oswald gently lowered his hands onto the piano and began playing a melody Ed knew he had to have heard somewhere before, but couldn't recall where.  
His movements on the keys were too abrupt and his fingers pressed down too hard to create a soft tune.  
Ed instinctively reached out to his hands to stop him, flinching when he realised he would just glide through his friend's form, just like last time.

"You don't need to stab the keys every time, you know."  
Oswald- no, Not-Oswald gestured towards the piano, a smile playing around his lips. "Show me."

Ed recalled the melody Not-Oswald had been playing and demonstrated the proper way to play it.

The voice coming from his left startled him and almost made him stop playing.

Not-Oswald was singing. Not loud and drunken, as he had that night in Ed's apartment when they had first become friends, but gentle, quiet and calm.

Ed closed his eyes and finished playing the piece, Oswald's voice accompanying the melody.  
It may have just been the drugs, but it seemed like the music was filling the room, slipping into every creak and every corner, filling Ed up from the inside, making his soul sing and his heart heavy.

Even after the song was over, Ed didn't open his eyes, too scared of the illusion of happiness fading once again.  
Instead, he started playing another song, a more upbeat one this time.

This time, it was Ed who began singing. Only when he heard Oswald's voice joining his did he open his eyes again. He tentatively spared a glance at the seat next to him and didn't bother to fight off his smile when he saw Oswald still sitting there, equally as happy as he was.  
Even though he knew the illusion he so hated would fade once the pills would wear off, he allowed himself to fall for it again. Just like last time, he swore it would be the last.

Ed smiled at the apparition of his friend and continued singing, their intermingling voices filling him with a happiness he hadn't felt in weeks.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Oswald's hand gesturing him to move his hand to let him take over.  
Just a second later, their hands moved in tandem across the piano, Ed's hand finding the keys in the correct place at the correct time, while Oswald kept missing them by just one inch.  
Every time it happened, both of them had to stop their singing for just a second to make room for a breathy laugh.  
Despite Oswald's frequent mistakes, the melody they were playing was beautifully imperfect, and even though Ed normally hated disorder, he couldn't help but find it endearing.

For just a minute, the familiar sensation of a piano under his fingers and the equally desired and dreaded feeling of Oswald right there next to him filled Ed with a sense of safety he had yet to grow accostumed to to miss.  
For just a second, he let the music fill the emptiness in his heart, the hole where once his trust and adoration for his best friend lay and just let himself forget.  
For just a moment, he allowed their shared voices to pull him under, make him forget all the dangers and heartbreaks of his past and future in favour of the one thing he had desired most in these past weeks.

And for just the blink of an eye, it was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> based on this: https://erizee.tumblr.com/post/159038776341/endless-nygmobblepot-edward-singing-softly-with#notes  
> I left out Olga because I don't know how to write her and because Ed is just more fun to write :)))


End file.
